Irish Language Agency

Lord Laird: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	On what date the grant scheme for the Irish Language Agency was approved by the North/South Ministerial Council.

Baroness Amos: The grant scheme for the Irish Language Agency has not yet been submitted to the North/South Ministerial Council for approval.

Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission

Lord Hylton: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	In relation to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission:
	(a) why the Secretary of State has not filled vacancies on the commission, including some dating back to September 2002; (b) whether it is true that vacancies will not be filled before March 2005; and, if so, why; and
	(c) why they have not issued a definitive response to the commission's Review of Powers, submitted in 2001; and when they intend to reply.

Baroness Amos: The Northern Ireland Act 1998 does not specify any set number of commissioners to serve on the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. Section 68(3) states that the Secretary of State shall as far as practicable secure that the commissioners, as a group, are representative of the community in Northern Ireland.
	There will be an announcement shortly regarding appointments to the commission, which will set out in detail how we intend to proceed.
	We put our response to the commission's review of its powers out to consultation in May 2002 but significant parties were slow to respond. The Joint Declaration committed us to bring that consultation to a close as soon as possible after restoration of the Assembly, but more recently it was brought forward to October 2003. The Assembly election in November and late contributions for parties held this up.

Ulster Scots Academy

Lord Laird: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord President on 6 April (WA 219) concerning consultants employed by the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, how the consultants listed were selected; by whom; and on what basis.

Baroness Amos: Terms of reference for the business case were drawn up by the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL). The procurement process was managed on behalf of DCAL by the Department of Finance and Personnel's Central Procurement Directorate using an existing framework arrangement for consultants who were invited to tender. An evaluation panel comprising three representatives of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure evaluated the tenders against the criteria of methodology, price, company and staff experience.
	Mr O Ríagáin, who was already retained as an adviser to DCAL, was asked to assist on areas relating to the European Charter on Regional or Minority Languages and language planning.

Residential Property

Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What statistical series they use to assess the responsiveness and stability of the residential investment market; and what is their estimate of the change of net initial yields on new investments in buy-to-let residential property over the past three years.

Lord Rooker: None.

Electoral Register

Lord Rogan: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is the statutory basis for the disqualification of a registered voter; what are the criteria for such disqualification; and what procedure of appeal exists against such a decision.

Lord Filkin: Once a person is registered to vote, the electoral registration officer (ERO) may remove the person's name from the electoral register only in certain circumstances, namely, where the person has moved to a new address, or has died, or where it has been established that he or she does not otherwise meet the conditions for registration. There is a right of appeal to the courts from a decision of the ERO on a registration matter. Electoral law differs in Northern Ireland. The Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland will write to the noble Lord in respect of the position there. A copy has been placed in the Library.

Electoral Register

Lord Rogan: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is the procedure for disqualifying registered voters; and how is the process regulated.

Lord Filkin: If the electoral registration officer (ERO) establishes that a person on the electoral register may be wrongly registered, or does not meet the conditions for registration, the ERO may remove the person's name from the register. Except in the case of an elector's death, where the information that could lead to a person's removal from the register emanates not from the elector, but from another source, the ERO, where practicable, is required to write to the elector to check if he or she is eligible to be registered. The process is regulated by provisions in the Representation of the People Act 1983, and the Representation of the People Regulations 2001. Electoral law differs in Northern Ireland. The Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland will write to the noble Lord in respect of the position there. A copy will be placed in the Library.

Electoral Register

Lord Rogan: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What criteria are used in determining whether someone with a learning disability is incapable of voting and should therefore be taken off the electoral register.

Lord Filkin: Electoral legislation for parliamentary, European parliamentary and local elections provides for a presiding officer in charge of a polling station to ask specific prescribed questions of anyone applying for a ballot paper if the presiding officer has any doubt about that person or about their understanding of the process and purpose of casting a vote. If the presiding officer is not satisfied with the answers he receives, a ballot paper cannot be issued to that person. A person with a learning disability who satisfactorily answered these questions would be entitled to receive a ballot paper. It is for an electoral registration officer to determine whether a person's name should be removed from the electoral register. Electoral law in Northern Ireland differs. The Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland will write to the noble Lord in respect of the position there. A copy will be placed in the Library.

Electoral Register

Lord Rogan: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether disqualified people are subject to any form of testing or qualifying procedure to have their name put back on the electoral register.

Lord Filkin: Applications for registration are made to individual electoral registration officers (EROs). An ERO may require any person applying to register to give additional information if he or she is in doubt as to whether that person is eligible to be registered. It is an offence under the Representation of the People Act 1983 to fail to comply with a request for information from an ERO, or to provide false or inaccurate information. Electoral law differs in Northern Ireland. The Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland will write to the noble Lord in respect of the position there. A copy will be placed in the Library.

Midwives: Independent Practitioners

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many midwives are practising independently; and what difficulties they experience in obtaining professional indemnity cover.

Lord Warner: The Department of Health does not collect information about the number of practising independent midwives.
	Guidance on the arrangements for clinical negligence claims in the National Health Service was published in 1996. Independent midwives who are not working under a contract of employment with the NHS or contracted to an NHS body to provide services to persons to whom the NHS owes a duty of care are responsible for obtaining their own professional indemnity cover, as are other self-employed professionals.

National Drug Strategy

Lord Alton of Liverpool: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	In the light of the latest annual report by the International Narcotics Control Board, whether they have made an assessment of harm reduction strategies as part of the national drug strategy.

Lord Warner: The report of the International Narcotics Control Board 2003 "calls on Governments that intend to include 'harm reduction' measures in their demand reduction strategies to carefully analyse the overall impact of such measures".
	The Government's drugs strategy (updated in 2002) states that harm minimisation will ensure that drug users receive good basic healthcare, helping to reduce the risks arising from drug misuse, including the risk of death. Indeed, the latest figures for drug-related deaths (2002) show a decrease of 4 per cent from 1,628 in 2001 to 1,565 in 2002, continuing a downward trend begun in 2000.
	The United Kingdom has adopted harm minimisation since the early 1990s as a preventive measure to reduce the spread of HIV and other blood-borne viruses. Needle exchange schemes were developed as part of the strategy. Over 90 per cent of primary care trusts in England have needle-exchange programmes and over 27 million needles and syringes are exchanged each year.
	On international comparisons the Government's harm minimisation strategies have been very successful in holding down levels of HIV/AIDS within the high-risk group of injecting drug users.

Consumer Council for Water

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the costs of establishing the new Consumer Council for Water are yet known; if so, what they are, and how they will be apportioned to the water undertakers and suppliers.

Lord Whitty: The regulatory impact assessment published alongside the draft Water Bill estimated that the set-up costs of the Consumer Council for Water would not exceed £1 million.
	A study of the organisational and regional structure of the consumer council was later commissioned by my department and published on 7 April 2004. The council will take over from WaterVoice and the study envisaged transitional costs of £350,000. The actual costs will be overseen by an implementation steering group chaired by Defra.
	The Water Act 2003 provides for these costs to be shared between water and sewerage undertakers. Ofwat will shortly be consulting undertakers about dividing costs according to company turnover, which is the basis already used for determining licence fees.

Single Railway Track: South-west

Lord Patten: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Triesman on 29 April (WA 92), whether long stretches of single-railway track south-west beyond Salisbury to Yeovil and Exeter have a (a) beneficial; (b) neutral or (c) negative effect on the economy.

Lord Davies of Oldham: No analysis has been undertaken of the effect on the economy of the single-track railway line between Salisbury and Yeovil and Exeter.